What is hell?

Answer 1

One view:

There is no such thing as hell with eternal burning fires as what was written in the scriptures. Remember the scriptures, even if it was inspired by God, remember that is was written by man and man has his own ego which makes the infusion of his own beliefs and ideas possible to mix with the pure messages of God so we cannot always rely on the scriptures for purity. Another thing to note is that most of the accounts in the scriptures particularly The Bible some of them are symbolical and not literal. One thing I must say of what is correct about this question is "Hell is what you make it." Hell is not made by a angry God for God is not wrathful.

Another view:

The Bible tells us that heaven and hell are very real, actual places where the soul goes after the death of our human bodies. It is a very basic scientific fact that energy cannot be destroyed, only changed. We are energy, when our bodies die, that energy has to go somewhere. God tells us where, either heaven or hell. Those are our only choices. It is also true that the bible has withstood the test of time and science, proving itself to be a reliable source of historical events and real historical people, Jesus of Nazareth being one of them.

That being said, from scripture and other historical documents the real place of hell is most likely underneath the earth's surface. The abyss, the eternal lake of fire, etc. is the perfect description of the burning center of the core of the earth. It is where Jesus went after his death and before he resurrected. He descended into Hades, to release the saints to heaven and to preach to others, I can only guess these were sinners that still had a chance of redemption.

Another view:

Hell is spoken of in at least two senses. One is the temporary abode in the spirit world of those who were disobedient in this mortal life. It is between death and the resurrection, and persons who receive the lowest degree of glory will abide there until the last resurrection. Hell, as thus defined, will have an end, when all the captive spirits have paid the price of their sins and enter into a degree of glory after their resurrection. Statements about an everlasting hell must be interpreted in their proper context in the light of that which defines eternal and endless punishment.

On the other hand, the devil and his angels, including the sons of perdition, are assigned to a place spoken of as a lake of fire-a figure of eternal anguish. This condition is sometimes called hell in the scriptures (2 Pet. 2:4. This kind of hell, which is after the resurrection and judgment, is exclusively for the devil and his angels, and is not the same as that consisting only of the period between death and resurrection. The one group are redeemed from hell and inherit some degree of glory. The other receive no glory. They continue in spiritual darkness. For them the conditions of hell remain, that of the absence of God, Christ and The Holy Spirit.

Answer 2

Hindus, Buddhists, Christians, Shintoists, Muslims, Zoroastrians and some Taoists believe that hell is the place of torment that souls will enter after death, either as a punishment for not believing, or as a punishment for sins. The ancients believed that hell was physically located underneath the earth. Over time, the Christian religion began to see Satan as the ruler of hell.

Answer 3

One Perspective

Read the Qu'ran, and you'll find the answer.

Another Perspective

Perhaps it is best to consider Hell in contrast to Heaven. Heaven is a place (state) of being with God and those whom we love. Heaven is joy, being completely open to God's love, being open to those around us, a total lack of fear, being embraced, accepted, nourished.....in brief, Heaven is joy beyond imagining.

Hell is the opposite of Heaven. To me the most painful experience a human being can have is loneliness (not to be confused with being alone). Hell means sadness and isolation. Hell is isolation, loneliness, emotional darkness which is worse than any physical torment. Having said this, although free will demands that I believe in the radical possibility of choosing to be separated from God, judgment belongs to God alone and thus I am unwilling to say (with all due respect to those who disagree) that there is actually anyone in the state of Hell.

Another Perspective

Supposedly you will be tortured and tormented to the extremes of the human capacity for pain. No one has specified how, though, nor given any proof for the existence of hell at all.

Another Perspective

Hell is a place for extreme and terrifying torture, but nobody alive really know what hell is. The pain is probably not being able to see God at all. Hell could even be perpetual existence with anything you truly fear.

Another Perspective

It is where the devil lives, and it is filled with fire and brimstone and has little demons in it and bad people like Hitler, Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan and KKK members

Another Perspective

Well, you can say it is your worst nightmare, where you never sleep and are tortured for all of eternity, where you did something so bad that God couldn't forgive your sins or you. It is a place where demons and devils and the klu klux klans never rest.

Another Perspective

Some versions of the Bible say that hell is the feeling of anguish of one's soul from being separated from God for eternity.

A biblical perspective:

In Mark chapter 9 (vv 44, 46, 48), Jesus refers to hell as a place where "their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched." Implied is that it would be like being eaten alive by worms - forever - but never consumed, and feeling the pain of severe burns - forever - but never incinerated. Completely separated from God (picture absolutely nothing good...it's harder than you think), completely helpless and utterly hopeless. Tortured by unimaginable terror and pain from both within and without with no end. No wonder He says (in Matthew 18:8-9) that we'd be better off cutting off a hand, or a foot, or even plucking out an eye, than spending one instant there - never mind eternity.

Another Perspective

Complete blackness, fire burning you without end, screaming screams of anguish, thirstiness you cannot imagine, complete separation from God that is "felt," you kick asses around!!!

BALLOCKS

Answer:

Since Hell does not have God's presense in it, all that God offers is absent. Light, Motion etc. This is in addition to the scriptures that explain the torment for those that are there. Read the Bible for accurate information.

WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS:

Since there isn't a Biblical answer on here about hell, here is one.

Who lives forever with the burning fire?

Isaiah 33:14-15 ...'Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly.'

THE RIGHTEOUS!!

How can this be? It's because God is an "ALL consuming fire" and only the saved will have the "fireproof clothing" (righteousness of Christ) to live with this "fire". The lost will not be clothed with Christ's righteousness and will therefore be "burned up", completely consumed, and no longer to exist.

Ezekiel 18:20 ...'The soul that sinneth, it shall die.'

John 3:16 ...'For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.'

In the Old Testament the word for "hell" is sheol which basically means the grave. There are 3 words for "hell" in the New Testament ... Tartarus, Gehenna and Hades.

Tartarus means: A place of darkness or restraint. Where satan and his angels are now, on earth, cast out of heaven.

Gehenna means: A place of real fire (the lake of fire), where the wicked are punished, 'burned up' and destroyed and the Heaven and earth is cleansed ... 'At the end of the world'.

Hades means: The grave. All people who have died, the lost and the saints are resting there.

The Bible clearly teaches that when we die we return to dust and know nothing after death. (Genesis 3:19; Psalm 115:17; Ecclesiastes 9:5,10; Isaiah 26:19; There we await the resurrection which happens at the second coming of Christ Jesus (1 Thess. 4:13-14).

To believe that our loving God would torture the lost in flames of fire for all eternity for just a short life lived on earth in a body that has a natural tendency to sin is just wicked. Hell is the grave and hell is the final place of judgment for the lost (the lake of fire) where the lost will be DESTROYED and will cease to exist. READ JOHN 3:16.

Nobody really knows but we can get an idea from these verses in the New Testament:

Luke 16:22-24 ............ The rich man also died and was buried. And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. "Then he cried and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.'

Remember eternity is a long time.

Answer 4

Unless a person, no matter their race, color, religious belief, geographical location or any other factor, does not turn away from a life of rebellion against God, turn from their sinful ways and thus commit their life to God by trusting in Jesus Christ to save them from God's righteous wrath, then they will go to hell. You must trust in Christ for salvation, by grace through faith. There is no other way out of it or around it.

Answer 5

In the Scripture there are three words used for hell with the Hebrew 'sheol' and the equivalent Greek term 'hades' most prevalent. They both simply mean the grave or pit - the final resting place of the dead. The other terms are 'tartaroo/tartarus' which is a special place of restraint for the fallen angels; and gehenna which pictures the trash dump outside the city which was continually on fire. It points to the Lake of Fire as the 2nd death of incorrigible humans and Satan who will be eternally punished there.

Descriptions of hell were primarily from mythologies of the the peoples. The modern Church picture of hell is primarily from Dantes Inferno - a writing in the 16th Century by a disgruntled, shunned man from the Church.

Answer 6

Most of what we know about hell comes from the imagination of Christians in the Middle Ages. Before this it was vaguely regarded as a place of torment, with many believing it was a place of fire, probably based on Zoroastrian teachings.

Answer 7

Heaven is a place of eternal life with God and Jesus in happiness. While hell is eternal damnation with the devil.